The owner of some cardboard boxes found by the wrong bin has been fined £1,560.

When Epping Forest District Council officers found several large cardboard boxes dumped by a bin store in Oakley Court, Loughton, it did not take them long to trace the rubbish back to Vadims Tjoluskins.

When they did, the Hillyfields resident admitted handing the boxes over to somebody else to get rid of, without making sure the person was authorised by the Environment Agency.

On September 13 in Chelmsford Magistrates Court, Mr Tjoluskins was ordered to pay a fine of £600.

He was also ordered to pay the Council’s prosecution costs of £900 together with a Victim Surcharge £60.

Had he not pleaded guilty the fine would have been bumped up to £900.

A council spokesperson said: "Before handing your waste to somebody else, always check, consider and record to protect yourself and reduce fly-tipping by rogue traders.

"It is a crime not to care."